34 



GAZETTEER OF VERMONT. 



Part III. 



BROAD BROOK. — BROMLKY. 



BROOKFIELD'' 



■idered a very good township of land, and 

 contains much excellent white pine tim- 

 ber wiUi several fine mill sites. Two saw 

 mills and one shingle mill have been 

 erected, and, at Aldrich's mills on Clyde 

 river, are the rudiments of a village. 

 Slutistics of 1840.— Horses, 27; cattle, 

 118 ; sheep, 242 ; swine, 71 ; wheat, bu. 

 358; barley, 63; oats, 1,092; rye, 43; 

 buckwheat, 277 ; In. corn, 54 ; potatoes, 

 4,700; hay, tons, 246 ; sugar, lbs. 6,050; 

 wool, 348. Population, 157. 



Bristol, a post town in the northeast- 

 ern part of Addison county, in lat.44° 7' 

 and long. 3° 59, is bounded north by 

 Monkton and Starksboro' east by Lincoln 

 and Starksboro' south by Middlebury and 

 Avery's Gore and west by New-Haven. 

 It is 25 miles southwest from Montpelier, 

 and the same distance southeast from 

 Burlington. It was chartered to Samuel 

 Averill and his associates, by the name of 

 Pocock, June 26, 1762, and contains about 

 26,000 acres. The name was altered to 

 Bristol, October 21, 1789. The settle- 

 ment of this town was commenced im- 

 mediately after the revolutionary war, 

 by Samuel Stewart and Eden Johnson. 

 These were soon joined by Benjamin 

 Griswold, Cyprian, Calvin and Jonathan 

 Eastman, Justus Allen and others. The 

 town was organized March 2, 1789; and 

 Samuel Ranny was first town clerk, and 

 Robert Holly first representative. There 

 are three religious societies, the Baptist, 

 the Methodist and the Congregational. 

 Each of these societies has a good meet- 

 ing house, that of the Baptist erected in 

 1819, of the Methodist in 1840, and of the 

 Congregationalist in 1841. The first or- 

 dained minister was the Rev. Amos 

 Stearns. The present ministers are, the 

 Rev. Solomon Gale, Baptist, the Rev. B. 

 O. Meeker, Methodist, and the Rev. Calvin 

 Butler. The Congregational church was 

 organized July 8, 1805. The epidemic of 

 1812, prevailed liere, but was not very 

 mortal. About one third of this town lies 

 entirely west of the Green Mountains, 

 and is very level, rich and productive. 

 The remainder of the town is broken and 

 a considerable part incapable of cultiva- 

 tion. A considerable mountain extends 

 through the town from north to south. 

 That part of it north of the Great Notch, 

 through which New- Haven river passes, 

 is called the Hog Back, and that on the 

 south is called South mountain. A part 

 of the latter was formerly much infested 

 with rattle snakes. New-Haven river, 

 enters this town from the southeast, and 

 before it reaches tlie centre of the town, 

 receives Baldwin creek from tjie nortli. 

 After passing the Notch and Bristol vil- 



lage it runs some distance nearly south 

 and then turns to the west into New- 

 Haven. There are three natural ponds 

 here ; the largest called Bristol pond, is a 

 mile and a half long and three fourths of a 

 mile wide. In the west part of the town 

 is a spring which is slightly medicinal, 

 and is sometimes visited. There is a bed 

 of iron ore in the part of the town next to 

 Monkton, and there have been several 

 forges here, but two only are now in opera- 

 tion, making annually about 100 tons of 

 wrought iron. Most of the ore which is 

 used here, is brought from Monkton and 

 from a bed in Moriah, N. Y. west of lake 

 Champlain. This town furnishes large 

 quantities of sawed lumber, which are sent 

 to market. The village is near the centre 

 of the town, upon New-Haven river, im- 

 mediately after it passes tJie Notch in the 

 mountain. It is very pleasantly located and 

 has 70 dwelling houses and about 400 in- 

 habitants. The greater part of it is water- 

 ed by an aqueduct nearly 400 rods in 

 length, laid in water lime. The village 

 contains 3 meeting houses, 2 school houses, 

 6 stores, 2 taverns and the usual variety 

 of mechanics' shops. It is 10 miles from 

 Vergennes and 11 from Middlebury. The 

 town contains 9 school districts, 2 grist 

 and 11 saw mills, 1 fulling mill and card- 

 ing machine, 2 forges, &c. Statistics of 

 1840.— Horses, 213; cattle, 995; sheep, 

 3,973; swine, 596; wheat, bu. 1,524 j 

 oats, 7,540; rye, 1,087; buckwheat, 348 ; 

 Ind. corn, 6,300 ; potatoes, 25,150 ; hay, 

 tons, 2,252 ; sugar, lbs. 9,500 ; wool, 

 11,800. Population, 1,233. 



Broad Brook, a small mill streamy 

 which rises in the eastern part of Barnard,, 

 runs across the southeast corner of Roy- 

 alton and falls into White river in Sharon. 

 Bromley. Tliis name was altered to 

 Peru, February 3, 1804. See Peru. 



Brookfield, a post town in the western 

 part of Orange county, in lat. 44" 2' and 

 long. 4^^ 25, is bounded north by Wi!l- 

 iamstown,east by Chelsea, south by Ran- 

 dolph and a part of Braintree, and west 

 by Roxbury. It lies 16 miles south from 

 Montpelier and 40 northwesterly from 

 Windsor. This township was granted 

 November 6, 1780, and chartered August 

 5, 1781, to Phinehas Lyman and his asso- 

 ciates, and contains 30 square miles. The 

 first settlement of this town was begun in 

 1779, by Shubal Cross and family. Mrs. 

 Cross was the first woman who came into 

 town, and on that account was presented^ 

 by the proprietors, with 100 acres of land. 

 Mr. Howard's family came in about the 

 same time and Caleb Martin, John Ly- 

 man, Jonathan Pierce, John and Noah 

 Payne, and several others came in soon 



